When I was younger, I tried learning the alphabet by sign language. But I never really learned how to communicate by sign language. Now I wonder whether all deaf people all over the world can understand each other, no matter how different their mother tongues are. What do you think? I should do some Google research on this once I am done with GIS mapping! I should also put this back on my bucket list: learn how to communicate via sign language.
In other news, life in Budapest is just a little notch higher than life in Bonn. Of course here I have a lot of acquaintances, lots of places to go to... but despite these numerous opportunities for distraction, I can't seem to get the friendship that I am looking for. Well, I have just been here for about 1.5 months so maybe eventually it will get better.
I am also looking forward to three scheduled trips: during the long haloween, All Saints' and All Souls' days, I will be in Bonn and then roughly three weeks after back in Bonn again and then three weeks after that in the Philippines!
The heart is another story. But I am having mixed feelings about visiting home during Christmas. I am now at a point where my life is completely disconnected from the lives of friends and family back home and I don't exactly know to whom and what I am returning to. After living in countries with a higher standard of living than back home, I wonder what change of outlook will I have? My level of awareness may just be the tip of the iceberg, there might be more profound reflections when I arrive. It will be almost 1.5 years since I left. Surely a lot has changed.
I'm trying to spend less time on online distraction agents such as Facebook and instant messengers and I am also doing less writing and blogging lately. There's a lot of learning to do, especially with using ICT tools. Now I know how to map through various GIS softwares and I can make my own maps and do away with copy-pasting maps from other presentations. I never really liked these technical stuff but I find myself enjoying. Check below a map I extracted from GIOVANNI for Australia's surface temperature. It's quite apparent how, at least on the surface, temperatures have risen (by 0.2 degrees Kelvin) within the last two decades! Climate change? I've taken data from pre-industrial level 1980 - 1990 and post-industrial level 1991 - 2010.
